Blackwell Reference Online

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Usually translated as “understanding,” the concept of verstehen has become part of a critique of positivist approaches to the social sciences. Associated with the sociology of Max Weber, verstehen derives from the hermeneutic critique of positivism that emerged in German universities in the 1880s and 1890s that gave rise to a dispute over method in the social sciences ( Methodenstreit ). Verstehen refers to understanding the meaning of action from the actor's point of view. It is entering into the shoes of the other, and adopting this research stance requires treating the actor as a subject, rather than an object of one's observations. It also implies that unlike objects in the natural world, human actors are not simply the product of causal forces. Individuals are seen to create the world by organizing their own understanding of it and giving it meaning. To do research on actors without taking into account the meanings they attribute to their actions or environment is to treat them like objects. ( Drislane and Parkinson 2002 ) Wilhelm Dilthey's sociology provided a more elaborated method of understanding than Weber's. Based on the view that since sociologists participate in the cultural worlds of those they study it is possible to gain a kind of inner understanding of social life that is impossible in the natural sciences, Dilthey distinguished several levels of understanding. ... log in or subscribe to read full text